Why Is It Better To Have School Lunches?
To start off, school lunches taste horrible, and students deserve better. Many students will walk up to the cafeteria line expecting to enjoy what’s being served, when it reality, they approach the food and it looks disgusting. Multiple times students at Auburndale High school won’t enjoy the food that they picked out originally. Sitting down at the lunch table they would realize that the fruits such as apples or bananas are rotten or the chicken sandwich that was picked out is still undercooked and mushy. Imagine starving all day and then when it comes time for the lunch, nothing is appealing as it should be. Students tend to either not eat lunch at all and stay hungry for the rest of the school day or eat food from someone else who packed
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a lunch, leaving the person that packed lunch less food for them. The flavor of the food creates issues for students, but not much has been changed for it. People desire food and jump at the chance to get the real thing. In a survey conducted at Auburndale High School on cafeteria food it showed that out of 50 respondents 30 students agreed that they disliked the cafeteria food and 62% thought the food did not look appetizing (Dos Santos). When parents send their children off to school, many have concerns about what exactly goes on with the school lunches. For instance, if a school sells burgers most likely inside the burger are health concerns. Burgers contain soy which “91% of all soy are genetically modified” and can cause damage to gut and brain of a child which can lead to behavioral and gas problems (“Killer”). In addition, a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the practice of paying processed food companies instead of preparing food in the actual cafeteria kitchen had the same amount of nutritional food value as junk food (Laskawy).
“Up to $1 billion of “surplus” fruits, vegetables, and meats” are sent to the program that the USDA supplies “and, rather than cooking them into healthy meals, it’s into high-fat processed foods.” (Laskawy). Not only do the ingredients affect the food, but health inspections can affect the flavor of the food as well. “In 22 public schools in Orange County, Florida, cockroaches weren’t spotted during the daytime, revealing their (huge) numbers only when a nighttime inspection was finally conducted. Some schools were forced to throw away dry food because of possible cockroach contamination.” (“6”). Walking the halls of many high schools in Polk County, cockroaches would be seen everywhere whether it was on the wall or on the ground, students would never know if any were in the cafeteria. Constantly students are complaining about the way the food taste at school and in a survey conducted at high school of EBC students it showed that “…the average rating of food quality was 2.6 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 94 percent of students marking 5 or below” and 76% agree that there aren’t many food options and after lunch is over, students don’t feel very full (“Letter”). [Clincher to be …show more content…
inserted] To continue with, cafeteria food requires prices that are affordable to all families. Many students’ families do not have enough money at home to be able to buy lunch every day. A survey that was conducted to students on cafeteria food asked if the prices were reasonable; 42% agreed it was and 42% agreed it wasn’t leaving 16% undecided and when asked if students buy lunch every day, the survey had the majority of 72% replying no (Dos Santos). Many students would agree that having free and reduced lunch is a benefit, but when it comes down to what food is served for it, it’s not very appealing and they would rather pass. Even with the free and reduced lunch, students are very limited to what they can eat. For example, those those are a part of the meal plan, if they get their lunch and finish it, but still feel hungry, they aren’t allowed to get another food item. They would have to ask someone else to buy it for them. With the cost of food, even the portion size has become an issue. 32 million students in the United States are a part of the National School Lunch Program, which uses the agricultural surplus to feed children with about 21 million of those children having free or reduced lunch and costs $13.3 billion a year (Komisar). The system however is being mismanaged. “About a quarter of the school nutrition program has been privatized… The agriculture department pays about $1 billion a year for commodities like fresh apples, and sweet potatoes… Schools get the food free; some cook it on site, but more and more pay processors to turn these healthy ingredients into fried chicken nuggets… The agriculture department doesn’t track the spending of the process food, but the school authorities do.” (Komisar). For example the Michigan Department of Education receives free raw chickens at $11.40 and has it processed into chicken nuggets for $33.45 a case (Komisar). “The average price parents will pay for an elementary school lunch this academic year is $1.86, according to the School Nutrition Association… Yet the cost to produce the meal is $2.92,a 25 cent increase from last year.”(Kelleher). With every meal that’s served to students from free or reduced lunch, schools get cash back and from this school year, $2.57 was reimbursed for every free meal and $2.17 for every reduced-priced meal (Kelleher). [More of second body to come] Last but not least, school food requires an upgrade because nutrients seem to be hidden. One time at lunch I went to buy a spicy chicken sandwich. Once I had sat down, I bit into the sandwich and it was raw in some areas where I had bitten and the banana that I had also was rotten throughout it. Clearly the lunch was thoroughly cooked and no inspections had been taking before putting out the food. Many parents agree that the nutrition for the food is not as important as it should be. Parents always strive for their children to eat healthy, which are pretty easy to watch at home, but once arriving at school its free territory for the kids. “From the first day of kindergarten to the last day of high school, parents place an inordinate amount of faith and trust in the school system to nourish their children in mind and body (Stewart). More than 27 million students every day line up in school cafeteria lines for lunch just to be served food such as cheeseburgers, fries, pizza sticks, etc and even some schools allow high school students to go off campus and pick up fast food (Stewart). School lunches lack the amount of nutrients kids need to be healthy. “According to reports issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) the USDA dumps hundreds of millions of pounds of surplus beef, chicken, cheese, and pork on the National School Lunch Program.” (Stewart).
As a matter of fact, a survey on cafeteria food showed that 40% of students believed that the school food is unhealthy and 78% agreed there isn’t a big enough variety for the food (Dos Santos).
With the lack of nutrition from the school food, health risks can take a factor creating problems such as obesity, to cardiovascular problems, and cancer later in life (Kelleher). In a 2006 data study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it showed that 5 to 17 years old, almost 60% of overweight children had at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor (Kelleher). Having unhealthy food menu items is just going to add on to that percentage. JoAnne Robinett reports that the “…government moves surplus agricultural commodities into the school-lunch program; much of it canned goods and processed chicken products.” (Kelleher). According to Kelleher, kids in upper middle class districts are less nutritional since they can eat more snacks, than kids in poorer districts. That just shows kids need to more aware of nutrition. Researchers from Xavier University did a surveyed 535 students finding out that 80% of students who ate lunch only did it because they were hungry and 10% said it was because there was good variety and quality of food (Tucker). Also with the students who did not eat lunch got there sources of food from different areas such as vending machines, local sores, and fast food
(Tucker).
Moreover, “School boards, coping with tight budgets, aren’t willing to spend more for better nutrition.” (Yeoman). The USDA says that the lunches are getting healthier, but yet the fat levels still remain high (Yeoman).
a lunch, leaving the person that packed lunch less food for them. The flavor of the food creates issues for students, but not much has been changed for it. People desire food and jump at the chance to get the real thing. In a survey conducted at Auburndale High School on cafeteria food it showed that out of 50 respondents 30 students agreed that they disliked the cafeteria food and 62% thought the food did not look appetizing (Dos Santos). When parents send their children off to school, many have concerns about what exactly goes on with the school lunches. For instance, if a school sells burgers most likely inside the burger are health concerns. Burgers contain soy which “91% of all soy are genetically modified” and can cause damage to gut and brain of a child which can lead to behavioral and gas problems (“Killer”). In addition, a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the practice of paying processed food companies instead of preparing food in the actual cafeteria kitchen had the same amount of nutritional food value as junk food (Laskawy).
“Up to $1 billion of “surplus” fruits, vegetables, and meats” are sent to the program that the USDA supplies “and, rather than cooking them into healthy meals, it’s into high-fat processed foods.” (Laskawy). Not only do the ingredients affect the food, but health inspections can affect the flavor of the food as well. “In 22 public schools in Orange County, Florida, cockroaches weren’t spotted during the daytime, revealing their (huge) numbers only when a nighttime inspection was finally conducted. Some schools were forced to throw away dry food because of possible cockroach contamination.” (“6”). Walking the halls of many high schools in Polk County, cockroaches would be seen everywhere whether it was on the wall or on the ground, students would never know if any were in the cafeteria. Constantly students are complaining about the way the food taste at school and in a survey conducted at high school of EBC students it showed that “…the average rating of food quality was 2.6 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 94 percent of students marking 5 or below” and 76% agree that there aren’t many food options and after lunch is over, students don’t feel very full (“Letter”). [Clincher to be …show more content…
inserted] To continue with, cafeteria food requires prices that are affordable to all families. Many students’ families do not have enough money at home to be able to buy lunch every day. A survey that was conducted to students on cafeteria food asked if the prices were reasonable; 42% agreed it was and 42% agreed it wasn’t leaving 16% undecided and when asked if students buy lunch every day, the survey had the majority of 72% replying no (Dos Santos). Many students would agree that having free and reduced lunch is a benefit, but when it comes down to what food is served for it, it’s not very appealing and they would rather pass. Even with the free and reduced lunch, students are very limited to what they can eat. For example, those those are a part of the meal plan, if they get their lunch and finish it, but still feel hungry, they aren’t allowed to get another food item. They would have to ask someone else to buy it for them. With the cost of food, even the portion size has become an issue. 32 million students in the United States are a part of the National School Lunch Program, which uses the agricultural surplus to feed children with about 21 million of those children having free or reduced lunch and costs $13.3 billion a year (Komisar). The system however is being mismanaged. “About a quarter of the school nutrition program has been privatized… The agriculture department pays about $1 billion a year for commodities like fresh apples, and sweet potatoes… Schools get the food free; some cook it on site, but more and more pay processors to turn these healthy ingredients into fried chicken nuggets… The agriculture department doesn’t track the spending of the process food, but the school authorities do.” (Komisar). For example the Michigan Department of Education receives free raw chickens at $11.40 and has it processed into chicken nuggets for $33.45 a case (Komisar). “The average price parents will pay for an elementary school lunch this academic year is $1.86, according to the School Nutrition Association… Yet the cost to produce the meal is $2.92,a 25 cent increase from last year.”(Kelleher). With every meal that’s served to students from free or reduced lunch, schools get cash back and from this school year, $2.57 was reimbursed for every free meal and $2.17 for every reduced-priced meal (Kelleher). [More of second body to come] Last but not least, school food requires an upgrade because nutrients seem to be hidden. One time at lunch I went to buy a spicy chicken sandwich. Once I had sat down, I bit into the sandwich and it was raw in some areas where I had bitten and the banana that I had also was rotten throughout it. Clearly the lunch was thoroughly cooked and no inspections had been taking before putting out the food. Many parents agree that the nutrition for the food is not as important as it should be. Parents always strive for their children to eat healthy, which are pretty easy to watch at home, but once arriving at school its free territory for the kids. “From the first day of kindergarten to the last day of high school, parents place an inordinate amount of faith and trust in the school system to nourish their children in mind and body (Stewart). More than 27 million students every day line up in school cafeteria lines for lunch just to be served food such as cheeseburgers, fries, pizza sticks, etc and even some schools allow high school students to go off campus and pick up fast food (Stewart). School lunches lack the amount of nutrients kids need to be healthy. “According to reports issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) the USDA dumps hundreds of millions of pounds of surplus beef, chicken, cheese, and pork on the National School Lunch Program.” (Stewart).
As a matter of fact, a survey on cafeteria food showed that 40% of students believed that the school food is unhealthy and 78% agreed there isn’t a big enough variety for the food (Dos Santos).
With the lack of nutrition from the school food, health risks can take a factor creating problems such as obesity, to cardiovascular problems, and cancer later in life (Kelleher). In a 2006 data study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it showed that 5 to 17 years old, almost 60% of overweight children had at least one cardiovascular disease risk factor (Kelleher). Having unhealthy food menu items is just going to add on to that percentage. JoAnne Robinett reports that the “…government moves surplus agricultural commodities into the school-lunch program; much of it canned goods and processed chicken products.” (Kelleher). According to Kelleher, kids in upper middle class districts are less nutritional since they can eat more snacks, than kids in poorer districts. That just shows kids need to more aware of nutrition. Researchers from Xavier University did a surveyed 535 students finding out that 80% of students who ate lunch only did it because they were hungry and 10% said it was because there was good variety and quality of food (Tucker). Also with the students who did not eat lunch got there sources of food from different areas such as vending machines, local sores, and fast food
(Tucker).
Moreover, “School boards, coping with tight budgets, aren’t willing to spend more for better nutrition.” (Yeoman). The USDA says that the lunches are getting healthier, but yet the fat levels still remain high (Yeoman).